McConnell: Obama’s budget is ‘left-wing wish list’

McConnell said that Obama’s call for a chained consumer price index will help save some money in the entitlement programs, but not enough. He said that lawmakers can’t keep kicking the can down the road otherwise entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare won’t be there for future generations.

“If the president and his allies care about Social Security and Medicare — and I take them at their word that they do — then they need to prove that commitment by proposing ambitious, forward-leaning structural reforms to save them,” McConnell said. “But if they choose to continue using these programs as campaign weapons instead, then the math points to a clear outcome: the entitlement programs so many Americans rely upon will go bankrupt, and today’s Washington Democrats will have to live with that legacy.”

GOP Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Dan Coats (Ind.) joined in on McConnell’s criticisms Wednesday, just an hour before the president released his budget.